203 Remove Linked List Elements

Given the head of a linked list and an integer val, remove all the nodes of the linked list that has Node.val == val, and return the new head.

Example 1:

1 -> 2 -> (6) -> 3 -> 4 -> 5 -> (6)
               |
               v
      1 -> 2 -> 3 -> 4 -> 5

Input: head = [1,2,6,3,4,5,6], val = 6
Output: [1,2,3,4,5]

Example 2:

Input: head = [], val = 1
Output: []

Example 3:

Input: head = [7,7,7,7], val = 7
Output: []

Constraints:

  • The number of nodes in the list is in the range [0, 104].
  • 1 <= Node.val <= 50
  • 0 <= val <= 50
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# Definition for singly-linked list.
# class ListNode:
#     def __init__(self, val=0, next=None):
#         self.val = val
#         self.next = next

''' Recursive '''
class Solution:
    def removeElements(self, head: Optional[ListNode], val: int) -> Optional[ListNode]:
        if not head:
            return head
        head.next = self.removeElements(head.next, val)
        return head.next if head.val == val else head

''' Iterative '''
class Solution:
    def removeElements(self, head: Optional[ListNode], val: int) -> Optional[ListNode]:
        sentinel = ListNode(0)
        sentinel.next = head
        
        prev, curr = sentinel, head
        while curr:
            if curr.val == val:
                prev.next = curr.next
            else:
                prev = curr
            curr = curr.next
        
        return sentinel.next